


A new mask

by WelcometotheFandDOOM



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, But they still are superheroes, But they were never really enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Identity Reveal, Mention of Death, POV Third Person, Shooting, but it's really not dark, falling, i don't know how to tag, title may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23742952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcometotheFandDOOM/pseuds/WelcometotheFandDOOM
Summary: In this world, there is no such thing as the Miraculous, and kwamiis. As it turns out, that doesn't stop Marinette and Adrien from adopting the names Ladybug and Chat Noir. It also doesn't stop Gabriel from becoming Hawkmoth.So what does change? Well, it's not what you would expect.Inspired by this prompt: You’re a supervillain in high school. Unbeknownst to you, your nemesis actually attends the same school as you, and when some new super-powered idiot comes to town and won’t stop causing trouble during exam week of all times, the two of you decide to team up to take them down.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth
Comments: 11
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter I'm a bit unsure on, but I really like where I ended up taking this story, and we hope you all enjoy reading it!

There are so many moments that divide our life. So many choices, so many decisions, so many seconds and so many memories. Some are much bigger than others.

Most people assume mine would be when I first pulled the mask over my eyes; maybe when I first started swinging. They would be wrong. The main moments that split my life? That divided it into before and after? They were words. Three words in fact. A screamed 'NO', marking the end of the first chapter. A small smile and an 'okay' beginning the next. And a whispered ‘Adrien’ ending one chapter and beginning the next, wrapped up in a single word.

* * *

Marinette slid her books into her bag, and zipped it up. Around her, her classmates did the same, and a dull wave of chatter filled the classroom, including the voice of Alya.

“And the video I posted of Ladybug using her latest suit is still nowhere as popular as the one where she hits Chat Noir with a fly swat, but I think it’ll get there.”

Marinette nodded, and swung her bag onto her shoulder. “Well, your camera has improved since then,” She gestured at the fancy phone Alya had gripped in her hands, “But there was something about their faces in the flyswat video. I don’t know if you’ll ever beat it.”

Alya laughed. “I get that… But one day I will. Just watch me!”

Marinette nodded, but very quickly looked away. “Bye Adrien!” She called, as the blond haired boy hurried out of the classroom door. He jumped, and turned around. Sheepishly, he waved at his friend, then continued out the door.

Alya rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s so obvious you’ve got a crush on him.”

Marinette snorted. “Come on, we’re just friends.”

“Mm hm.” Alya looked pointedly at her bestie.

“Oh come on!” Marinette rolled her eyes. They’d had this argument many times before, and the outcome was always the same. No point in going through it yet again. “We only have a page to read for homework. Thank goodness, because as of next week we are officially in exam week.” They started walking out of the school.

Alya groaned. “Today is the last day before a weekend of study…”

“Then a week of study.”

“Then a week of study!” Alya agreed, as she waved her arms into the air. “Honestly, why do they have to make the work so hard!”

“Hmm…” Marinette pretended to consider the question. “Maybe it’s because we go to a super fancy, super expensive unless you get a scholarship, technology school for students ahead of their time?”

Alya chuckled, which faded into a groan. “But if there’s anything our classwork has taught me, it’s that I am not smart. Like, at all!”

Marinette was about to point out how Alya was a lot smarter than she let herself take credit for. Alya had made most of the adjustments on her phone’s camera herself despite several warnings from the school that pulling apart the ridiculously expensive phone would end the warranty on it early. It paid off though, and now she had a camera that never seemed to take a blurry photo, no matter how quickly her and Chat Noir moved when they fought each other.

“Marinette! Look!” Alya grabbed her best friend's arm, and pointed to where a black figure could be seen leaping over a building. “I have got to film this! I might have to miss a bunch of battles during exam week, I’ve gotta get some now!”

“Then go!” Marinette urged. Sure enough, her friend took off, running in the same direction the black character jumped.

The fact that Alya always hurried off to film the hero-villains of Paris had the benefit of halving the number of excuses Marinette needed to create. As it was, she simply ducked behind the stairs of her school, and pulled out her suit from her school bag.

It was easy to shimmy out of her loose-fitting dress. She’d taken to wearing bicycle shorts and a black singlet under all her clothes pretty quickly after adopting her superhero name, so she didn’t feel too awkward- she was out of view of everyone anyway, but there was something reassuring about still wearing clothes even if they were way more showy than anything she’d normally wear. The suit slipped on easily. It was made out of some this lightweight, white fabric she’d then dyed red and black. It had been hard work, but the slight spiral pattern each black dot had gave the suit a flair of being unique. Finally, she dug out the mask.

Though her suit changed fairly regularly, each time she got a new idea for some technology or design, once she decided on a mask it stayed the same. It covered the top of her head and face but not her nose, mouth, or the bottom of her cheeks. At the back was a simple strip of black elastic to hold it in place but let her hair stick out. At first she’d kept her hair stuck down her suit, but it began to itch, causing the change in design.

She pulled the yoyo off her waist, and used it to throw herself into the air, high above all of the buildings, and as soon as she could she released her hands to change her pigtails into a short braid. She’d gotten pretty good at braiding when she realised how tangled her hair could get when she was, well (a smile reached her face as this thought reached her) being a superhero.

* * *

When Chat Noir was first spotted, it had been the start of a school year. He was doing what soon became his regular shtick- robbing (or failing to rob) a ridiculous place. First, it was the Louvre. Go big or go home, probably, or definitely because that’s what he’d told her when she’d brought it up. He’d actually been stopped by the police that time, leaving him to run away in his ridiculous suit. It had made the news, Alya’s video of him running away from their batons. Anyway, he’d been so much of a comic book villain that she thought it would be a bit of fun, you know, to design a comic book hero. It was only meant to be the suit that she’d design, but when she been messing around with her yoyo in the school’s workshop two days later she’d found that if she replaced its string with this new, stretchy, squishy material, then she could probably use it to throw herself over a building.

And, well, the moment that thought occurred to her, she had to try it.

The answer was yes, which was exciting.

At first she was only swinging through Paris like Spiderman in a Ladybug-themed suit for the workout. No, stop laughing, she was serious- gym memberships were expensive and the city was like a giant gym! Sure, she was considered ‘trespassing’, so she needed to wear a mask, but it was worth it.

Then when Chat Noir reappeared, a week after his last appearance, he had a baton all of his own. He actually spent 20 minutes showing this to the police officers- not fighting them, just showing how it extends, and how he can balance on top of it. Marinette turned up right as he did that, leaving them awkwardly staring at each other, one from on top of a silver stick and one dangling from her yoyo from a building.

“So, uh,” Chat Noir said. “Are you a superhero here to stop me, or do you also want to rob the Louvre?”

And Marinette obviously couldn’t say she was going to rob the Louvre, so the next thing she knew her and Chat Noir were fighting.

She had no training fighting, at all, but Chat Noir had forgotten how to shrink his baton so she held her own until he gave up and hurried away. Marinette actually felt pretty proud of herself, so she watched him go, grinning slightly. That was until one of the police officers walked up to her and asked for her name.

“I, uh-” She stumbled over her words, until finally she landed on “Ladybug.”.

Not the most dramatic origin story (I wore a mask because I was trespassing, and I beat the bad guy because his weapon broke), but soon she and Chat Noir began having their ‘fights’ regularly. Marinette was pretty sure she’d become quite good at fighting, as well, because now their fights were actually fights! To be honest, she actually looked forward to them, because it was a work-out, which her parents had drilled into her head was very important for mental health, and because the jokes between her and Chat were fun. She enjoyed herself. To be honest, she didn’t see what all the fuss was about in the comics- Chat Noir rarely tried to pick a fight during school hours, it was easy to keep a secret identity from Alya because her friend always ran off first, and it was fun swinging above buildings.

* * *

“Chat Noir!” She called, when she reached what turned out to be a bank. The villain was wearing a clunky black suit, which had advanced since his first appearance just like hers had.

“Ladybug!” He responded, and stood up from where he was sitting on top of the bank’s roof. “Are you going to try to stop me?”

“Of course!” Ladybug walked dramatically towards him, the wind blowing in her hair.

“Well then,” Chat Noir smoothly used his baton to meet her on the ground. “I guess that means we have to fight.”

Ladybug started swinging her yoyo in a circle, then they ran at each other. Chat Noir extended his baton towards her head, so she spun on her toe, then threw the yoyo at Chat’s foot. When it caught it, she pulled and sent him to the ground, but he rolled with it and pulled her over too. They lay on the ground for a moment, then Chat muttered, “That must have looked so cool.” Ladybug grinned.

“Not as cool as this.”

She leaped to her feet without using her arms, then threw her yoyo at Chat’s arm. He yanked his arm out of the way, pulled himself to his feet, and ran at her again, this time pole vaulting over the red hero. In the air, he used his baton like a sword, and swung it at her. She dodged it, and ran up to Chat. She pulled her arm back to throw a punch, when a loud explosion made both characters freeze. Very slowly, she turned to face the bank behind her.

The front doors had been blown open, and smoke billowed out. From the smoke, a figure dressed in a dark purple and silver metal suit emerged. It looked very dramatic, and as Marinette focused that, the figure started running. It wasn’t very fast, probably because of the four, large, brown sacks thrown over its shoulders.

Suddenly, Marinette jerked to life, and she threw her yoyo at the figure. It struck one of his bags, which slipped from his grasp. When it hit the ground, money rolled out of it like water. The figure, which definitely looked more masculine so Marinette decided to start calling it a him, glanced at it, then at the hero. Marinette pulled her yoyo back, then threw it forward again. He took a step to the side, didn’t even bother spinning to avoid it, just stepped to the side and the yoyo landed on the concrete. Marinette swallowed.

A loud roar hit her ears, and the figure started lifting off the ground. It must have something in the feet of its suit, because he quickly took to the air, and disappeared from sight.

There was a pause, in which both Marinette and Chat were silent, then she rounded on the black cat next to her.

“You have a sidekick now!” She roared.

Chat Noir’s eyes were wide. He swallowed. “I- no- I don’t know who that was!”

“Right.” Ladybug snorted.

“No, seriously, I have no idea who that was.” Chat Noir argued. “Look-” He glanced to the side. Alya had appeared, and was steadily creeping forward, wielding her camera which suddenly seemed less exciting now that it was picturing the hero standing next to the villain, money spilt on the ground, looking at where the clearly bad guy had got away. “We should go. I promise, I had nothing to do with that, Ladybug.”

And the cat was off, disappearing into the day like he always does; only tripping once or twice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This wasn’t like the comic books. She was a teenager, she wasn’t supposed to get into these kinds of situations! She was supposed to worry about school work, not getting shot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really proud of this chapter! It’s definitely better than the first, and kind of wish I was able to start the story here, but story wise it didn’t work.  
> I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!
> 
> Also, there is a mention of somebody being badly hurt in this chapter. It is not described vividly, at all, and is more described as a joke than anything, so I am confidant keeping it in this rating, but consider this your warning!  
> -Amarok

_Chat Noir’s new sidekick- or do we believe that he really has no idea who the new figure is?_

~~Hawkmoth- the word scrawled inside the bank. Is this the new villain’s name?~~

> PARIS IS UNDER ATTACK FROM A NEW EVIL!

**Ladybug’s failure- or is she working with them?**

## IS THIS THE END OF LADYBUG?

Marinette threw her head on her desk. She couldn’t bring herself to read any of the articles, but also couldn’t bear to turn away.

Her parents assumed her negative mood was down to exam stress- speaking of which, having a test on Monday wasn’t helping her mood! The notebooks were scattered over her desk, and her highlighters were uncapped. Two of her last three black pens were basically dead, and the beautiful colour-coded sticky notes were no longer colour coded. Also, she wasn’t actually studying.

Peeling her face up from the desk, she restarted her ‘study !!! You can do it Marinette !!!’ playlist, which she made a mental note to change the name of, decided to change the name immediately, then started playing her newly titled ‘Study :,(‘ playlist, and returned to her art homework.

Halfway through deciding whether she should use her pink or yellow highlighter to highlight this one particular note, the back of her brain mumbling that it doesn’t matter, her computer notified her that the news had updated with the key words ‘hawkmoth’ in the article.

Immediately, Marinette opened the article. Her eyes widened, and she threw highlighters down.

* * *

“Honestly Hawkmoth?” Ladybug yelled. “You’ve literally just robbed a bank! What do you need more money for?” She tapped her fingers on the side of her leg. “You know what, don’t answer that. I don’t have time for this. I’m a busy lady, you know.”

Hawkmoth turned back to the restaurant. It was a really expensive one, the sort where Marinette doubted there was too much cash on the premises anyway.

“Ladybug, you’re on the wrong side here.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m not joining the dark side or whatever. Come on, I don’t have lon-”

Hawkmoth lifted his arm and something flew out of his suit with a bang, shattering the window. Ladybug’s mouth went very dry, very quickly.

“Keep talking, and I won’t miss.”

Ladybug’s heart rate rose. This wasn’t like the comic books. That was an actual bullet, he had an actual gun in his suit. With Chat they fought, but this wasn’t like that! She was a teenager, she wasn’t supposed to get into these kinds of situations! She was supposed to worry about school work, not getting shot!

Schoolwork! She had a test coming up! She didn’t have time for this! It was so inconvenient, and selfish!

She should just leave. Hawkmoth had his back to her, she could run back to her apartment, she was a teenager, nobody should expect her to get into a gun fight with this lunatic. They say don’t bring a sword to a gun fight, and there was a serious chance that trying to bring a freaking yoyo to one could cost her her life.

Silently, she turned to go.

“Is this everything?” Hawkmoth’s voice reached her ears.

“Y-Yes,” A man’s terrified voice reached her ears. She screwed her eyes shut, hating it.

“You’re lying.”

“No- no- no i’m n-not! Peop-ple p-pay on-n card-d-d,” The voice continued, and Ladybug started shaking.

“I said you’re lying! You must be!” Hawkmoth’s voice rose, and Ladybug risked it and glanced back to see him with his hand against a poor worker’s head. Remembering the gun hidden in his suit, Ladybug felt like she was going to vomit.

Before she could back down, or she began to quiver uncontrollably, she screamed “NO-”. She threw her yoyo at his arm, pulled it away from the worker and into her direction. Despite the mask, she could tell Hawkmoth’s eyes widened, then narrowed before she was diving away from bullets.

The villain snarled in anger, and stormed out of the restaurant. The same roar from last time started, and the suit began to lift off the ground.

Her heart beating in her ears, Ladybug ran forward. She threw her yoyo, wrapping it around his waist. She planted her feet onto the ground, but it did nothing as he suddenly took off into the sky, dragging the red bug behind her.

For the first second, Ladybug was silent. It was like the speed that she had been dragged off left her voice in the restaurant, trapped in that endless ‘no’.

Then her voice caught back up to her, so she did the logical thing and screamed.

* * *

Hawkmoth didn’t seem to notice her being dragged behind him, until he started to change direction, and the weight attached threw him off course. Then he saw the bug.

He reached for the yoyo string, the low sunlight glinting off something, and swiped his hand through it. The string snapped, and Ladybug started to fall.

Hawkmoth twisted back the way that he came, and flew off, not once looking back on the superhero.

Ladybug continued falling.

Her yoyo was snapped, there was nothing to do to catch herself. She turned around to glance at the ground. They had been flying really high, so they had a long way to go before she was at building level, but all the same she could recognise the high walls of the Agreste House. The rising ground made her feel sick, so she screwed her eyes shut and flipped back to the sky.

Adrien was going to find her splattered body. Would they even know it was her? They’d probably figure out it was Ladybug. Maybe when Marinette disappeared they’d connect the dots. She should have made a will or something. Her parents could get her designs, Alya her old suits, Adrien… What would Adrien get? Maybe some of the designs that she made that were inspired by him? That didn’t seem like enough. It was his house she would be splatted outside of, after all. What did she want to give Adrien? What would someone as kind, and sweet, and pretty as Adrien want?

Marinette felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, and she didn’t think it was from falling. Probably. She was pretty sure it came from the realisation that she wanted to give Adrien a kiss, and from the second realisation from that one- I have a crush on Adrien.

What a great time to come to that realisation!

Marinette felt something wrap around her, and screwed her eyes up tighter. _This is it, this is the ground, it’s wrapping around me because I’m actually spread out across the concrete…_

“Why hello there M’Ladybug. How kind of you to drop in.”

She would recognise that voice that sounded like a smirk anywhere, any circumstance. She was sure of it.

* * *

Chat Noir landed on top of a roof, far away from the Agreste house leaving Marinette relieved she wouldn’t have to look at Adrien any time soon.

Feeling awkward even though she didn’t have any reason to, Ladybug stepped out of his arms. “Thanks, Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir bowed. “Any time, My Ladybug.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Don’t call me that.”

Chat Noir smirked. When was he not smirking?

Ladybug brushed down her suit, just needing a moment to think. “Why did you save me?”

Chat, for once, took a moment to think about his words. He grinned, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, I wasn’t going to let you die.”

Ladybug glanced at him warily, then gave him a polite smile in return. “Well, thanks.”

She turned to go, then realised her yoyo was still… Well, no longer a yoyo.

“Mind helping me down from this roof?” She asked, turning back.

Chat blinked at her. He glanced at the string hanging from her finger. “O-Oh! Of course.” He walked towards her, then hesitated. “Actually, first-”

Ladybug tensed up. Chat bit his lip. “Can we talk? Quickly.”

Ladybug stared at his masked face, trying to pull apart the situation. “Sure… What about?”

Chat seemed to brighten up. “Well, this new Hawkmoth guy, right?”

Unsure how to reply to that, Ladybug just slowly repeated “Right.”

“What if we teamed up to beat him?”

Ladybug huffed a laugh. Chat didn’t. “Wait, you’re serious!” She stared at him. “Chat Noir, you’re a bad guy.”

“But so is Hawkmoth!”

“That doesn’t mean I’m willing to be a bad guy just to get rid of him!”

“You wouldn’t be becoming a bad guy! I’d be becoming a good guy!”

Ladybug stared at him, chuckling slightly at the ridiculousness of his words. “That’s not how it works.”

Chat Noir opened his mouth, and closed it. He looked at the ground, then an idea seemed to reach him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone.

“Your suit has pockets!” Ladybug sounded more excited than she should have at that. He blinked at her.

“Yours doesn’t?”

Ladybug made a face at him. “It’s skin tight, Chat, where would I put pockets?”

Chat rolled his eyes. He unlocked his phone. “I lied before.”

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. “What did you do?”

“About why I saved you. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t let you die.” He turned his phone towards the red and black hero. “This was why.”

Ladybug stared at the grainy, black and white image. Her hand covered her mouth when she realised what it was.

“Is that security footage from the restaurant?”

“Some news company got a hold of it. They were playing the whole event live on their website.” His finger pointed to a clearly spotted figure in the doorway. “This is you.”

Ladybug watched herself turn around, facing away from the restaurant, and freeze. She watched herself tremble, her fist clench. She looked so scared, so unlike a hero. Embarrassment and shame filled her. So many people will have seen this. Everyone would know how weak she was. Ladybug closed her eyes. “Okay, Chat. Thanks.” She bit out, and spun to go.

“No- Ladybug, wait!” Chat leaped forward. “Just watch!”

Ladybug opened her mouth, but he held the screen in front of her. She watched herself turn around, and pull Hawkmoth’s arm away from the worker. Chat paused the video, before she pulled it and before Hawkmoth began shooting at her. She looked at the mask, and despite the grainy footage she could see the war of determination and fear on her expression, through the eye holes and the tightness of the mouth.

“That’s why I decided to help you. You could have so easily swung away then. Nobody knows who Ladybug is, you could just throw away the mask and it would be over. You were so clearly scared, but you didn’t. You chose to stay, you chose to fight, you chose to save that guy, you chose to be a hero.

“It is like that. Now I want to make that choice! I just wanted to be free, you know. Yeah, I know I’ve been the ‘bad guy’ up to now, but I haven’t really done anything that bad! I’ve never actually stolen anything, or killed anyone.”

“Because I’ve stopped you.” Ladybug didn’t look up from the paused video.

“Yeah, but I haven’t really been trying to either. Sure, at first I kind of was, but I wasn’t really trying! I just wanted to have some fun. I wasn’t really thinking of stealing anything, just messing around, being myself.”

“So go out with your friends then!”

Chat went quiet. “I didn’t really have any friends then. I do now, and like I said, I’ve not really been trying now! I’ve been sitting outside a bank for five minutes! Once I hovered around the Eiffel Tower for half an hour before you turned up. I just wanted to do something, get away from my- some people.”

Finally Ladybug looked at him. “It’s ridiculous that your first thought when you were bored was to rob the Louvre.”

Chat laughed lightly, and Ladybug found herself chuckling too. “So what do you say?”

Ladybug stayed silent. Clearly excited by the lack of a ‘no’, Chat continued talking. “Come on, if we work together we can totally take down Hawkmoth! Besides, he has no care for when to attack. He might try it during the school day, or in a test-” He seemed to catch himself.

“School day?” Ladybug said cautiously. “How old are you, Chat?”

Chat Noir didn’t meet her eyes. “Fourteen…” He mumbled.

Ladybug couldn’t help the snort. Chat glared at her. “No, it’s not that- it’s- I’m fourteen too. It’s just funny that the reason that I could never use you as a personal excuse to skip maths class is because you were probably also in maths class.”

Chat joined her laughter then, and then they were both gasping for breath, smiles reaching their eyes.

“So?” Chat asked finally. “Can we be partners?”

Ladybug looked at him. “Okay.” She said, with a small smile on her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re trying to steal the butterflies? Gotta admit, didn’t expect that.”
> 
> Hawkmoth spun, and glared at her. Even through the mask, he seemed fed up. At her or the butterflies, she couldn’t say, but she liked to think it was the butterflies. “Come on Ladybug. You don’t understand-”

Hawkmoth struck again the next day.

Marinette threw her pen to her desk in anger. “Come on!” She snapped at the news headline on her phone.

She’d actually managed quite a bit of study today, but it would not be enough if she had to stop now! She had both maths and science tomorrow, and she wasn’t even entirely sure what they were doing in science, never mind being prepared for an exam!

But that little notification carried on shining, breaking up the image of her lockscreen. “Fine.” She stood up. “Fine.” She changed into a different suit. “Fine!” She pulled out a spare yoyo. “Fine!”

This time Hawky was robbing a butterfly garden. Her arms still aching from her out-of-control trip across Paris yesterday, Ladybug swung through the doors. She raised one eyebrow at the man in a fancy, Ironman-esque, shiny suit, waving a not-so-advanced butterfly net around.

“You’re trying to steal the butterflies? Gotta admit, didn’t expect that.”

Hawkmoth spun, and glared at her. Even through the mask, he seemed fed up. At her or the butterflies, she couldn’t say, but she liked to think it was the butterflies. “Come on Ladybug. You don’t understand-”

“Look, Hawkmoth. Butterflies probably aren’t as bad as banks, but I can’t just let you kidnap them.”

“No, you don’t understand, I need them-”

“Uh huh, yeah, I don’t care.” Ladybug threw her yoyo, wrapping it around the butterfly net. She pulled, Hawkmoth didn’t let go, and they ended up with a broken net.

Hawkmoth groaned, and threw his stick to the ground, plucking the few butterflies he was able to catch and squashing them into a bag.

He lifted up his hand, and started shooting (yep, those were still real bullets) at Ladybug, who dove behind a plant. Hawkmoth took off, running towards a door, when a silver pole blocked his way.

“Monarch me an idiot, but it seems like you missed a bug!” Chat Noir grinned. Hawkmoth stared at him. “Get it? Monarch me an idiot? Mark me an idiot?”

“That was terrible.” Ladybug responded, standing up from behind the bush. Chat Noir pointed at her and carried on talking to Hawkmoth.

“And you missed a bug? Because you’re stealing butterflies and she’s Ladybug?”

“Seriously Chat, if you have to explain it-”

Hawkmoth made a break for it, knocking the pole over and tipping Chat Noir to the ground. Ladybug threw her yoyo, and used it to block up the doorway. Hawkmoth skidded to a stop, and turned around to face them. Chat Noir stood up to face him, and Ladybug pulled her hands into fists.

“Well then?” Chat grinned. “You going to fight or do you have butterflies in your stomach?”

Hawkmoth ran forward, and they ran to meet him. He lifted his arm, and Chat snatched up his baton. Ladybug pulled her yoyo out of the doorway, then reached for Chat. She wrapped her arms around him, and he pole vaulted them both above Hawkmoth, and she threw her yoyo down to grab the arm that held the gun. She pulled it tight, and there was a loud screeching. She loosened the yoyo, and the ring where it had tightly gripped the metal was crushed and broken.

“Don’t bring a gun to a superhero fight.” She grinned as they landed on the ground, this time guarding the door.

Hawkmoth didn’t say anything, just ran directly at them again. Ladybug and Chat dove in seperate directions. Chat stuck out his baton at ankle height, and Ladybug threw out her yoyo at neck height. Hawkmoth jumped over the baton, but alas, his limbo skills were not up to standard, so he got caught on the yoyo string and slipped to the ground. The bag of butterflies crumpled to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, and dove for the bag, but Chat Noir slid his baton along the ground and knocked it out of reach. Hawkmoth growled, but instead of trying again, he took off to the door.

“Get him!” Ladybug shouted, even as she followed him. They sprinted out the door, where they saw his figure retreating into the sky.

“No!” She yelled.

Chat Noir stood next to her. “It’s okay, My L-”

“No it’s not! He got away!”

“But he didn’t get what he came for.” Chat Noir gestured to the sack on the ground. Ladybug bit her lip. She bent down, and opened it. Two butterflies immediately fluttered away, but the third stayed at the bottom of the sack. She carefully picked it up. It almost seemed to glow, the egg-shell white colour of its wings. 

“Bye bye little butterfly,” She murmured, opening her hands. It tested its wings, then took to the sky. She smiled as it went. “You’re right Chat. Maybe we didn’t capture him, but we did win this time.”

“And it was because we worked together.” Chat said. Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Come on, admit it, My Lady.”

“Don’t call me that.” She said, but couldn’t help but smile. “Fine. It was because we worked together.”

Chat Noir looked like he was about to start celebrating, when he froze.

“What?”

“Don’t move!” He hissed.

Terror gripped Ladybug, as she stood like a statue. “Why?”

Chat Noir lifted his phone, and took a photo. “What are you doing?”

He smirked, and turned the photo around, showing the picture of her in her mask, her messy braid thrown over one shoulder, and the sunlight shining through a pair of egg white wings on her hair. Ladybug looked away from the photo to where it was still perched.

“Aww.” She said, grinning. “But you’re going to have to delete that photo.”

“What? Why?”

“What if somebody sees it? Your secret identity will be out.”

Chat considered for a moment, then smirked. “Not if I send it to the Ladyblog! Then anyone could have it.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I so would, Bugaboo.”

* * *

He did.

* * *

After spending the rest of the day studying, Marinette reached the conclusion that there was no way she was ever going to be ready for these exams. She kept on finding some new articles to read, some new comments on the Ladyblog’s post of that photo (which was tagged as: An anonymous user sent this to me, claiming to be the notorious, charming and legendary Chat Noir! Whether or not that’s true, two things are for sure: 1) we love this bug, and 2) this is going to become a lot of people’s profile picture! (which was correct, Marinette had already counted twelve Ladyblog users.)) or the room felt too cramped. Groaning, she glanced at the Ladybug suit, then back at her work.

“It’s worth a try.” She mumbled, pulling the suit, and snatching up her book.

* * *

She didn’t expect to be found, sitting on a random house’s rooftop reading her history book, but ten minutes later a black figure landed next to her.

“Reading on the roof?” Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. She lifted up her history book. “Studying.” She corrected. “As of tomorrow, I will officially be in exam week.”

Chat laughed, then held up his own history book. It had the same cover. “Me too. And my teachers expect way too much of me!”

“Same here!” Ladybug agreed, stopping herself from staring at the book. It was weird, she was pretty sure her school was the only one that had that one.

Chat plopped down beside her. “Want to work together then?”

Ladybug chewed her lip. “That depends. How much do you know about Tutankamun?”

“About half as much as I need to, and twice as much as I want to.”

“Then take a seat!” She laughed.

* * *

It was actually fun working with Chat. She laughed, and he laughed, and they got distracted but they also made jokes that helped them remember things. By the end she actually felt accomplished in her study, which was rare. 

There was a lull in the conversation. Ladybug stared at the night sky. “It’s beautiful,” She murmured.

“Like you?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug snorted.

“Cheesy much?”

The villain-now-hero was probably blushing, if his mask didn’t cover his cheeks.

“Hey, Chat?” Ladybug asked.

“Yeah, My Lady?”

“There’s this guy that I like.” She glanced at the hero sitting next to her. “He’s in my class, but we’re just friends.”

“Oh.”

“What should I do?”

Chat stayed quiet for a moment.

“Chat?”

“I’d tell him.”

“You would?”

“Yeah.” He turned to smile at her, but there was something else in his expression, which she couldn’t read. “I would tell her-him, that when I looked at him, I saw everything I wanted to be. I saw, not a perfect person, but someone who was trying to be. Somebody who looked at the world and thought that it was messed up, and flawed, but instead of giving up and joining it they became what they wanted to see. And I’d say that I wanted to be with that person, because while they were busy looking for the good in everybody else, all I could see was how good they were.”

Ladybug stared at him, then grinned. “You like somebody, don’t you?”

Chat slowly nodded, his eyes glancing at her face then away again.

“Well, you should tell them that. Exactly what you said to me. She sounds amazing.”

Chat gave a small smile. “She is. And I’m sure whoever Mr Crush is will think you’re amazing.”

Ladybug smiled. “Thanks, Kitty.” She pulled out her yoyo. 

* * *

Gabriel Agreste walked down a darkened alley. A man stood in shadow, flipping a coin.

“Did you do it?”

“No, I-”

“No?”

Gabriel swallowed. “No, Ladybug and Chat Noir teamed up and stopped me.”

“Do you know why we wanted you to steal the money?”

“Yes- to prove I was loyal enough-”

“No. To prove that you were able to. You’re rich enough Gabriel, the question is whether you are willing to steal, to join. We said three tests. The first two were money.”

“Right, and-”

“You made the first one. You didn’t bring enough the second, but that’s not your fault. The money wasn’t there. Now you’re telling me you failed the third?”

“I-” Gabriel paused, expecting to be cut off. When he wasn’t, he hesitantly continued. “You can’t need the butterflies for anything. You’re just doing it to make fun of me now!”

The man stopped flipping the coin. “The butterflies were to prove that you would do anything for this. You join us, and you are given one chance to choose something, anything, that we will help you with. Then, for the rest of your life, you have to do anything we ask of you.”

“I know that-”

“Do you? Because you don’t seem capable of doing it when there is something in it for you.”

Gabriel swallowed. “Please. Another chance. I need this.”

The man glared at Gabriel, then sighed. “Fine. Bring us the masks of Ladybug and Chat Noir, and we’ll let you in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come! Hope that you all enjoyed reading it, especially with the world at the moment.  
> I have quite a few chapters written up now, so hopefully you’ll be able to read them more regularly!

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Can't get Plagg and Tikki's characters right.  
> Me: Writes them out of the story all together.
> 
> Also, if you want to check out our tumblr (we're @f-a-n-d-o-o-m), we'll probably update more frequently there!


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